Different Circumstances
by Kretari - daughter of Hermes
Summary: What if instead of going to the lot after Darry hit him, Pony started walking and was found by Steve? While Steve may not always like Pony, he's still part of the gang, and besides Pony's his best friend's kid brother. He's not about to just ignore the kid when he's obviously shaken up. But when he finds out what happened, things spiral.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: So. Here's this thing. I didn't mean to create something new. I just got this idea while I was out at the lot by my place - the place between my house and Dally's house is actually our own freaking Vacant Lot. I love it...sorta. **

**Anyway, I was hanging out out there listening to Marianas Trench and thought of this. I don't know. It doesn't match the song I was listening to, but I like the idea, so I shall write it.**

**Enjoy.**

The calm silence of the late night air that had been very enjoyable was broken by the sound of harsh pants, as if someone had just ran a decent length, or was rather upset. That was what caught Steve off guard on his trek to the Curtis household. His old man had thrown him out once again, this time a bit later than would normally happen. He glanced up from where he had been watching the ground in front of him, just for something to stare at.

He blinked in surprise when he saw the youngest Curtis brother collapsed on the side of the road, struggling to even his breathing out.

He paused in front of him and spoke. "I take it it's not a good call to head to yours?"he asked, kneeling in front of the youngest member of the gang. "What's going on?"

Ponyboy only glared up at Steve.

It was enough for Steve to notice the red mark on one of Pony's cheeks and he blinked in surprise. "Who hit you?"he demanded. While, sure, they didn't get along, Pony was part of the gang and his best friend's kid brother, he didn't want him hurt.

Pony shook his head.

"Was it one of your brothers?"Steve asked, eyes portraying his surprise. If it had been a Soc, it would be worse, he knew. Not just a red mark. "Soda?"

Pony shook his head.

"Darry?"

He didn't get an answer.

Steve shook his head. "Get up."he said, getting to his feet. "You're going back home, and we're all gonna work this out. This ain't okay."

Pony wanted to fight back, but let Steve pull him up and back towards home.

When the two reached the Curtis home and entered the living room, Sodapop jumped up. "Oh, thank god."he said, pulling Ponyboy into a tight hug.

Steve leveled a look at Soda before he looked at Darry, hiding his face in his hands while seated in that armchair he loved so much. "I got a bone to pick with you."

Darry looked up at the same time Soda let go of Pony and backed away.

Soda looked at Steve for a moment before he pulled Pony out to the front porch. He knew Steve well enough to know that he wasn't going to be calm about any of this.

As soon as the door closed behind the two, Steve spoke again. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Darry shook his head. "I over-reacted."he answered. "He was home late and Soda and me were worried and I...I didn't mean to hit him...I just..."  
"Didn't think before you acted."Steve finished, plopping down on the couch. "I found him sitting on the curb close to my place on my way here. If I hadn't've been thrown out again, I wouldn'ta found him. The Socs would have. Then what would've happened?"

Darry looked down again. "I feel bad enough without you adding to it."  
Steve shrugged.

"Besides, since when do you care?"

That caught Steve by surprise. Not only the phrase, but the bitterness in Darry's voice as he said it. "He's your kid brother."he deadpanned. "He's Soda's kid brother, and the youngest of the gang. Of course I care about him. Do I always like him? No, but that don't mean a damn thing when it comes to his well being."

The silence that followed that statement was one of the heaviest ones anyone in the gang had sat through.

When Pony and Soda came back in, Darry got up and started towards them. Pony shrunk down a bit, shying back into Soda a bit, which surprised everyone. Pony was tough, why was he doing this?

Darry frowned. "I ain't gonna hurt ya,"he promised.

Pony gave him a look that cut straight through the eldest brother's heart.

Soda shook his head. "I think it's a bit late. We'll all talk tomorrow."

Darry nodded, letting the two pass him.

Steve sighed. "I hope you're proud of yourself, Darry. Pony's never shied away from someone like that."he said.

"Just get some sleep."Darry said, heading to his own room.

The nightmares that came that night for Pony were pretty awful for him. Soda was oblivious to them for the longest. He woke up to Pony shaking like a leaf and frowned, pulling him closer and drifting off when he calmed down again.

Needless to say, it was a long night for everyone, and they had a long day ahead of them as well.

**This is probably so badly out of character. I am so sorry.**

**Anyway. Just to get me writing again, because I'm stuck with everything right now, can't do anything without hitting a block of sorts.**

**If you have a request for like a oneshot or something, let me know. Just something to do.**

**Stay Gold.**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: After a long day, I figure this is the best thing to do. Not like I have anything else to keep my mind off of everything. So I write.**

**It's a long story, really, as to what caused this to be in existance anyway, as to why I was even listening to music at the lot when I came up with this, and well...now that I know all of it, I hate it. And I hate that this is what comes out of it, because the situation in itself is sad and this is...not so much.**

**I'm getting there.**

**But since people seem to like this for some reason that's utterly beyond me, I will continue it until I can't.**

**To those who reviewed: **

**Jsp: Glad you like it! As for if it's going to be Steve/Pony...I don't know. I didn't plan this one out at all beyond what I was using as inspiration and what line I was starting with. We'll see how it shapes out. But I have seen some really cute ones for that pairing, as crack as it may be at times. It's adorable. But...likely not. I don't know.**

**Phoenixx Rising: Working on that...as much as I can. It's hard, characterizing them when I base off dubs so much, and we don't have a Steve or a Dally, and one of them play a major roll here. It's hard to explain. Cosplay stuff. Yeah.. Glad you like it!**  
**Guest: I'm working on the characterization as much as I can. Like I said above, I do focus on the dub group I have to use for personality, as I have issues dragging a full personality out of a book or movie. It's just a weird tick of mine. Working on it. Yeah.. Glad you like it!**

**dani-curtis-16: Glad you think so! **

**SaiyanPrincess: Glad you like it!**

**Guest: Glad you like it!**

**Enjoy.**

The following morning, Pony woke up to yelling coming from the living room.

"What the hell were you thinking, hitting him?"

Dallas. Pony recognised that voice anywhere. Steve must have told the others what had happened the previous night.

Soda came in the room right about then. "You're up."he said absently.

"Hard to sleep with people yelling."Pony answered, getting up and scratching at the back of his neck. "What happened?"

"The rest of the gang showed up about an hour ago and Steve told them what happened. Johnny's going out of his mind worried about you."

Pony sighed. Of course Johnny was worried. He'd never heard of one of the others in the gang getting hit. It didn't happen."

With that, he disappeared out into the living room.

Steve was the first to catch sight of him. He gave an apologetic shake of the head.

Johnny's eyes locked on him and he moved from where he was situated to make sure that there wasn't any damage done.

This caught every one's attention, and it made Dally stop screaming at Darry.

Pony spoke softly. "Don't go off on Darry for it, he didn't mean to."he said. "It was my own fault, I shouldn'ta yelled at him for being concerned."

This surprised several of them, none more so than Darry.

"Ponyboy.."Darry said. "I.."

Pony shook his head, giving an easy smile. Well, as easy a smile as he could manage when faced with Darry, who was giving him a look that had him wanting to sink into the floor. "It's fine, Darry."

Of course, that didn't go over too well, either.

Soda sighed from the doorway. He hated all this fighting. He just wanted it to stop.

After a while, Steve let out a loud whistle, cutting everyone off. "Alright. Enough's enough. Soda and me are gonna have to head to work, and Darry, you're late as it is right now. This is getting dropped and we ain't gonna continue fighting about it,"

Nobody argued, not with the look that they got. They hated the fighting too, they didn't like fighting amoung themselves, because it tore their group to shreds when it happened.

Later on in the day, after Soda and Steve got off work, things had settled. Pony was curled up on the couch reading when the two came in.

Soda plopped down on the couch and rested his head in his brother's lap. "Whatcha up to, Pony?"

Ponyboy sighed. "I was reading."he said tiredly.

"Long day?"Steve asked from where he was standing.

Pony nodded. "The gang refused to leave until about an hour ago."

Steve gave an understanding nod. "They bug you about it?"

Pony rolled his eyes. "No, we discussed Mickey the whole time. 'Course they bugged me about it."

"No need to get snappish."

There weren't any arguments after that. Even after Darry came in, no arguments were heard. Steve headed back to his place after getting a call from his place that gave him the invitation back. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."

**I don't have much patience with writing right now. I'm sorry. I gotta get off the computer anyways. I just figured I'd finish this chapter, since it's been sitting on my computer half finished for a while now. I'm sorry, guys.**

**Stay gold.**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Hey guys! I am going to go ahead and do this. It's finally a weekend, and it's been a long week. But that doesn't matter. What matters is that you should know that it's been one of those days that has me really hyper. I swear, I felt high on the bus 'cause I had so much energy, and then I got chocolate cake when I got home. Not a good thing. But that's okay.**  
**To those who reviewed: **  
**Amanda: I'm glad you like the story. And thanks. I appreciate that!**  
**Guest: Glad you like it!**  
**Dauntless14: I won't have them die. It's a what if situation, so...it's too much work, reworking everything. I don't want them dying anyways. I still can't read their deaths without crying. I'm not good with dealing with deaths when the characters are so realistic. Glad you seem to like the story.**  
**Phoenixx Rising: Glad you do!**  
**Guest: Glad you like it.**  
**EDIT: Summer's here. It's been a while since I started this. Sorry, guys. It's been hectic. Things are only now settling down.**  
**So...some friends and me are planning on doing Outsiders cosplay. Unfortunately, I have to borrow the book from the library, do brush up real quick. The lady who checked my books out asked if I was doing some retro reading, and I told her that I was getting ready for cosplay, needed a brush up. Then the middle school's Sodapop scared me. Came up behind me and I didn't realize til she spoke. It was a pretty funny thing. Then...I'm getting away, hanging out with Dal again. I'm real happy about that, honestly. I'm not supposed to hang out with her, and well...we got around it for a while. She walked me home tonight, said she wasn't letting me walk alone 'cause she heard someone following us and kept catching sight of a flash of a knife. Didn't tell me til after, once I told her one of my cousins said it seemed like a date with the way she walked me home. She had to keep her hood up to keep my nanna from finding out and murdering me, though. It's all good, I guess. That's a long enough rant from me, you guys don't really care, do ya?**  
**Enjoy**

* * *

"I cannot believe that you have the nerve to even think about yelling at him for something so stupid, Darry!"  
Of course, the next day when Steve had come in, it was to see Soda looking between his brothers, torn on what to do. Pony was silent, staring stonily at the ground, while Darry was yelling at him over the state of the room. From what Steve understood, there was only so much time they had until the state person came by to check up on them. Which meant they had to be working together, not screaming at each other. So of course, he snapped.  
"How long do you even have?"  
Soda spoke up. "Until nine thirty."  
Steve checked the clock. Twenty minutes. "Then let's get to work."he said, looking at the three. "Each of us take a room, then we meet up and finish with the kitchen and living room."  
Naturally, there was a bit of arguing between the four, but they got it done.  
Steve stuck around even as the state lady showed up. In fact, he plopped down on the couch between Pony and Soda while Darry sat in the recliner that he was so fond of.  
Things were pretty calm as the lady checked the house carefully. Steve kept the younger of the brothers occupied while Darry watched every move made.  
When everything went over smoothly, Darry gave a thankful grin to Steve, who's smile disappeared. "You've got some nerve."  
"I'm sorry."  
Things settled after this and Soda kept a close eye on how his younger brother and best friend acted towards each other. It was strange, them getting along. He was glad they were getting along, it just worried him a bit. He wasn't used to it.  
Naturally, when Pony was late coming in the next night, Steve and Johnny were with him. Steve looked at the two of them. "Lot."he told them. "Johnny's folks are at it again, and neither of us wanted to leave him out there alone."  
Darry nodded and went about making beds for the two in the living room.  
Soda jumped up and helped while Pony worked on getting Johnny to pull himself back to the present, where nobody was screaming at him or hitting him.  
Steve just watched in silence, noting the fact that Darry relaxed when the three had showed up, letting him know he had been worried again.  
Once everything was put together, Darry spoke. "Make yourself comfortable, boys. It'll be a long night. Storms coming in sometime."  
"Oh joy.."Steve said sarcastically. "You sure we'll not have the others popping in? Where's Dallas and Two-Bit?"  
Soda shook his head. "Two-Bit kept at home tonight. He decided against the drinking for tonight, spend time with his mom and kid sister."  
Steve grinned at the news, it was always welcome, Two-Bit staying out of drinking to spend time with his family.  
"And then Dallas..."Soda said, frowning. "I don't know."  
Johnny spoke. "Buck Merril's tonight."he answered. "He'll be okay."  
This got a nod from both Steve and Darry. Neither questioned why Johnny knew. Of course Johnny new. He kept up with where they were all the time, just out of habit.

That night was long, as Darry had said. Sometime around two, Darry drug Soda and Pony from their room to the living room, where Johnny and Steve were both sitting up, candles lit.  
"Power's out, we aren't letting any accidents happen getting up in the morning."Darry said. "Get situated, you two, I'll go gather more blankets."  
Pony didn't complain, just settled in beside Johnny and let himself fall asleep again.  
Johnny chuckled. "And this is what got you in trouble before."he said, his grin a bit weak at the thought. "Falling asleep so easy."  
Steve raised an eyebrow. "Fell asleep at the lot with you, did he?"he asked.  
Johnny nodded.  
"Can't say the kid isn't loyal."Steve said, looking at Soda. "You and Darry have one hell of a kid brother."  
Soda grinned. "Yeah, we do. Can we call it a night now?"  
When Darry came back, he tossed blankets out. "Get to sleep."He told them. "It'll be a hectic morning."  
How he knew, nobody asked. The Curtis home always got the worst of the insanity from the gang.  
Darry stayed up after the others were asleep, looking over the boys in amusement. Johnny and Pony were out cold, exhausted even in their sleep. Soda kept close to Pony, knowing he had nightmares, and Steve seemed perfectly content sprawled on his back like he was, an arm thrown over his eyes while the other was folded over his stomach.  
As he looked at this, he couldn't help but think. Steve had been different since he brought Pony back home, more attentive to the youngest of the gang, trying to help. He didn't know if he should worry or not, but he hoped it was a good thing that Steve wasn't complaining about Pony tagging along so much now. It let him know it would be easier to count on the kid being alright, even if he forgot to use his head.

* * *

**I'm calling it a night. Earliest one in a while, since I've stayed up til four or five the past week trying to play catch up in my psychology courses that my cousin has me signed up for online, paying for them himself. **

**But...yeah. That's that. You guys missed a lot.**  
**Stay Gold.**


End file.
